My aim was rather to illustrate that this was a very much evolved form of the lion skin. In Arab tradition, Heracles was sometimes shown holding the head of a certain demon rather than a lion skin. As JKP's imag wonderfully proves, some illustrators mixed up the lion skin and the humanoid head. This image shows an extreme offshoot of that scenario, where it is likely that the copyists copied from an image like the one JKP posted.
As you say, one needs to go back way BCE to explain the roots of this image. Aratus will do to explain why he is kneeling, and the iconography if found already on Greek vases.
I show this image to illustrate that it's not unlikely at all that BCE imagery ends up in the 15th century. Additionally, if the process of transmission can turn a lion pelt into a hums skin, then surely a tree can become a tail.
The difference of course is that the VM line of transmission is less well documented...
As you say, one needs to go back way BCE to explain the roots of this image. Aratus will do to explain why he is kneeling, and the iconography if found already on Greek vases.
I show this image to illustrate that it's not unlikely at all that BCE imagery ends up in the 15th century. Additionally, if the process of transmission can turn a lion pelt into a hums skin, then surely a tree can become a tail.
The difference of course is that the VM line of transmission is less well documented...